A quick introduction to Singlish

Intending to teach some people from Scotland about Singapore through language (since they too have a very specific English)

Transcript

1. A quick introduction to Singlish Björn Andersson
2. Singlish is
3. Singlish is • A pidgin • simplified language • primarily English mixed with Cantonese, Hokkien, Malay, and Tamil • a sentence structure similar to Chinese languages
4. FredArt: https://flic.kr/p/32DuHE
5. Singlish is • A pidgin • simplified language
6. Singlish is • A pidgin • simplified language • primarily English mixed with Cantonese, Hokkien, Malay, and Tamil
7. Singlish is • A pidgin • simplified language • primarily English mixed with Cantonese, Hokkien, Malay, and Tamil • a sentence structure similar to Chinese languages
8. – English “That sounds great, we should do that”
9. – Singlish “Can”
10. The tonality of can
11. The tonality of can • Can?
12. The tonality of can • Can? • Questioning
13. The tonality of can • Can? • Questioning • Can…
14. The tonality of can • Can? • Questioning • Can… • Pondering
15. The tonality of can • Can? • Questioning • Can… • Pondering • Can!
16. The tonality of can • Can? • Questioning • Can… • Pondering • Can! • Realization
17. The tonality of can • Can? • Questioning • Can… • Pondering • Can! • Realization • Caaaan!!
18. The tonality of can • Can? • Questioning • Can… • Pondering • Can! • Realization • Caaaan!! • Agreement
19. Suffixes
20. Suffixes • Can lah
21. Suffixes • Can lah • Obviously, or most definitely so
22. Suffixes • Can lah • Obviously, or most definitely so • Can leh
23. Suffixes • Can lah • Obviously, or most definitely so • Can leh • Possibly, a less strong version of lah
24. Suffixes • Can lah • Obviously, or most definitely so • Can leh • Possibly, a less strong version of lah • Can lor
25. Suffixes • Can lah • Obviously, or most definitely so • Can leh • Possibly, a less strong version of lah • Can lor • Oh okay then, a bit of indifference and resignation
26. But what about questions?
27. – Singlish “Why so slow ah?”
28. – English “No, I would rather have a glass bottle than the can”
29. – Singlish “Can no can”
30. – English “Sure, that’s something we could do”
31. –Johnny Appleseed “Also can”
32. – Singlish “Can, no can also can”
33. – English “We could or could not do that. The choice is yours, my friend.”
34. https://youtu.be/PAy-xRLl2Ik